Critter Confusion
by Huhuchocolate
Summary: Sunyshore used to be a brilliant and cheerful city, and the name says it all. But a haunted ice-cream truck scares its citizens off, and of course, the gym leader has to work it out. -VolknerFlint friendship


"Hey, look, there's an ice-cream truck over there!" The excited cry emitted from a young kid almost immediately attracted all the other children's attention. Of course, when the word 'ice-cream' is available, anything is possible in a child's eyes. Children surged forward towards the ice-cream truck with coins held tight in their palms, intent on buying an ice-cream.

"One chocolate cone, please!"

"Strawberry here!"

"Everything on a cone!"

"Butterscotch ice-cream!"

"VANILLA!"

The window of the ice-cream van slowly opened, and everyone there fell silent with excitement. But the excitement changed to horror when they saw what was inside. It revealed nothing but an eerie darkness. Through the rays of sunshine, they could see a pair of eerie eyes staring out at them. A pair of glinting fangs appeared and there was an inhuman sound from inside. There was calamity, as children rushed to get away from the van, causing several adults to arise and control the situation. When the children told them what had happened, they turned towards the innocent-looking ice-cream truck- and found that it had vanished.

From then on, nobody neared the truck; and the whole of Sunyshore's beach would be deserted by 6 o' clock, the time when the truck usually appears. Everyone was too afraid to confront the truck, and others who were brave enough to chase after it would see the truck vanishing in front of their own eyes.

So it came to the gym leader's attention- And as always, it was the gym leader's job to take care of the city's problems. With a sigh, Volkner gathered up his pokemon and he went toward the scene of the investigation. He made his way towards the deserted beach, but was stopped almost immediately by thumping footsteps.

"Yo, Volkner! I heard you were gonna go capture some ice-cream truck on the rampage at the beach. Is it true?" Flint's voice burst out from behind him, and a long lanky arm slung itself over his shoulder. Volkner rolled his eyes and sighed in irritation. Just when he thought he would be getting a bit of peace and quiet, the afro-haired, happy-go-lucky elite decides to make an appearance.

"Yes, Flint, I am," He answered in a bored tone, hoping Flint would get the hint. "Good!" And Flint started to walk beside the younger man casually, heading towards the beach. Volkner's eye twitched. "Who said you could come?" He asked, hoping his friend would give up and just go back. But there was no chance of that happening, Volkner knew his buddy too well. "Why, no one did. I wasn't aware that I needed permission, Volk," Flint laughed loudly, and the sound echoed throughout the empty beach which they had now reached. Even Flint seemed taken aback, as litter was blown around the beach by a gust of wind.

"Wow, you folks get scared real easy, don't ya?" Volkner shot Flint a reproachful look, as he took out his pokeball and sent out Luxray. "Yeah, well. Haunted ice-cream trucks can be pretty creepy, if you must know… Luxray, try to find the scent of… anything out of the ordinary," Volkner commanded, and Luxray obediently began sniffing around. "Wow. I never knew you trained your Luxray like a hound, Volk!" Flint cried out excitedly, and again, his voice echoed throughout the deserted grounds. Volkner winced. "Well, now you know," He replied blankly, not as amazed as Flint.

"Rrrggh," His Luxray growled and caught its trainer's attention at once. "What, Luxray?" Volkner walked towards Luxray who was sniffing at a small puddle of liquid by the sidewalk nearby the beach. He knelt down and touched the liquid, sniffing at it. He caught a strong whiff of petrol and nearly choked. "What'cha found, Volkner? A clue?" Flint bounded towards him and bent down. He wrinkled his nose. "Yeuch. I thought you'd know better than to go smelling petrol, Volk! If cologne or perfume, yeah… But petrol? Please," Flint snorted and stood up again. Volkner hissed in frustration and got up, too, about to make a sharp retort.

But a faint tinkling sound made him stop. He looked at Flint, and the fire-type elite seemed to hear it, too. So he wasn't being delusional. He petted his Luxray and called it back into its pokeball. For a moment, they both stood still. Yup, the tinkling sound was getting louder and clearer by now. And right at the end of the beach, a small white van was slowly coming towards them, like a sinister gamboling creature. Volkner could see it now. It was the ice-cream truck and it was getting nearer and nearer by the second. Beside him, he could feel Flint tense up. At times like these did Flint show a more serious and mature side of him.

Finally, the truck stopped directly in front of them. The window slowly rolled upwards and both of them could get a view of the inside. It was all dark and pitch black, but they could discern there was a figure watching them from inside. Then what they saw next seriously creeped them both out. There was a gleam of fangs which was now covered in a red type of substance. A tongue came out and licked it clean, and an unearthly sound filled the truck. Volkner felt his insides run cold, but yelled the only thing that came into his mind. "Quick! Don't let the window close!" Flint was the first to reach the window. He had long legs and managed to jump and grab hold of the metal window.

The window was now trying to close, and Flint struggled to hold it up. "It's strong, Volk! Do something!" Nodding and with his heart beating fast, the blonde called out his raichu and commanded it to batter down the doors of the ice-cream truck. With a loud crash, the doors fell apart and Volkner leaped in with his pokemon beside him. Once he was in, he realized that he was in the freezer where all the ice-creams were kept. He was frustrated when he saw he still had another door to batter down, and this seemed to be made of steel. He commanded his raichu to batter down the other door, and, shooting its owner a reproachful look, it did so, with the help of Luxray which was sent out also.

A few seconds later, in which was filled with Flint yelling for Volkner to hurry up and the crashing of the steel doors, the doors was crash down and Volkner was inside the dark room of the truck van itself. Indeed there was the opening for the window which led in light and Flint's arms which was trying hard to hold it up. But what Volkner concentrated on was the creature in the darkness that was trying to close down the window. It was quite small and was floating about in mid-air. Volkner tiptoed towards it, intent on grabbing the little creature. At the last second, as he reached out both hands to grab it, the creature realized that the gym leader was behind it. Whipping around, it turned onto Volkner and bared its miniscule fangs at him.

Luxray pounced on it and brought it down with a threatening growl, and the creature yelped. It sent out a jolt of what seemed like electricity which surprised Volkner. It had no affect whatsoever on Luxray. Outside, Flint shouted in surprise when he was no longer fighting an invisible force. "Volkner! Send out a pokeball and see if you can capture it! It might work, and what do we have to lose?" Volkner was incredulous over the fact that a pokeball would capture it. He rummaged in his pockets and found what he was looking for; a dusk ball. It might work because the creature was in a dark place… right?

Volkner threw the ball and it hit the creature. To his surprise, a flash of white light came out and the creature was dragged into the dusk ball. The ball shook and quivered as Luxray growled, and sparks flew from Raichu's cheeks. Once, twice… It stopped. Marveling at this miracle, Volkner stopped and picked up the ball. An eerie silence filled the van. Suddenly, the van gave a jerk and Flint yelled for Volkner to get out quick. Calling back both his pokemon and clutching the precious dusk ball to his chest he jumped out, expecting the van to explode like in the movies. But it didn't.

Instead, it vanished without a trace right in front of their eyes. Flint and Volkner gaped in shock at the spot where the van was a minute ago. How did a van that big vanish by itself? Flint was the first to break the silence. "Volkner! You caught it right, buddy?" Volkner nodded breathlessly and Flint ran forwards to see what it was inside the pokeball. Before they could really study it closely, however, a voice stopped them in their tracks.

"You've got yourself a rotom there. It's a ghost type who also specializes in electricity. Rotoms usually go for electrical machinery, so it's no wonder it caught interest over that ice-cream truck," A man with blonde hair and a head band complete with an eerie purple scarf was watching them with interest out of his calm eyes. They both stared dumb-struck at this random stranger. Well, Volkner did. Apparently, Flint seemed to recognize him. "Hey! You're Morty from Johto, aren't you? Ecruteak's gym leader, right?" Morty nodded, a slow grin spreading across his face.

"The champion, Cynthia, called me over to help. But it seems that you've managed to solve the problem without my help," Morty spoke as a Gengar hovered above him, looking disturbed as it tried to shield itself from the bright rays of sunshine. "This is… a rotom?" Volkner asked blankly as he looked at the pokemon. It had a small orange body and had limbs that gave of sparks of electricity a times. "Yeah. That rotom's in its normal form. It's quite rare, really. So consider yourselves lucky you managed to capture it," The gym leader went on, petting his uncomfortable Gengar on its head.

"Lucky…" Volkner repeated to himself quietly. Flint looked at the rotom and grinned. "Well, it could be kinda cute," He said enthusiastically. "I'm glad you like it. I'll excuse myself, then. My ghost pokemon don't really enjoy the brightness here. But before I go," Morty hesitated. "You must've been wondering why the van vanished. It's because there's another pokemon inside, a psychic one. Gengar here told me it was an abra," Both of them looked in wonder at this foreign gym leader who was not only an expert on ghost types but could also understand his pokemon. "Well, then. I guess this is goodbye. Until we meet again," With those few last words of farewell, Morty and his Gengar both disappeared.

Flint and Volkner both glanced at each other. "Weird," Volkner muttered, and Flint nodded his head in agreement. "But hey, at least you've got yourself a ghost and electric type of pokemon, Volk!" Volkner agreed and he could picture in his mind both rotom and him having fun defeating other trainers in battle.

A month later…

The rotom is now currently residing in an old and abandoned chateau in Eterna Forest. Volkner was forced to get rid of it after it had caused mayhem and blackouts in the city of Sunyshore. And there it waits until someone brave enough comes for it. The abra in the ice-cream truck must have been friends with the rotom. Sometimes, the faint tinkling of a stray ice-cream van would fill the forest. The red substance that dripped from rotom's fangs was not blood, but instead, it was the red flavoring from strawberry ice-creams, which it seemed to enjoy.

End.


End file.
